• 2 grapefruits, squeezed
• water – see recipe
• about 300 g (10 oz) caster sugar

Discard the pith, and cut the skin into neat strips. Cover with water, bring to the boil and cook until the peel is tender and translucent. Drain, rinse and return to the saucepan with 200 mls (7 oz) water and 200 g (7 oz) of the sugar. Cook gently until the sugar has dissolved, and continue to simmer the peel in the syrup, adding the remaining sugar after about 10 minutes.

When the syrup has almost been absorbed and the pieces of peel become sticky to the touch, but before they reach the brittle, cracking stage, transfer to wire racks. Leave them to dry out, overnight if you can, then roll them in caster sugar and store in an airtight box. Pink-fleshed grapefruit produces a pretty pale orange peel when crystallized, the yellow-fleshed grapefruit remains yellow. On the whole, for the curd I prefer the sharper yellow-fleshed, and for the syrup the pink-fleshed.